Could this have been an X Ambassadors song instead?
Sure, yeah. We have our own version of it. But I think it means so much more being sung by Rihanna -- specifically by a black female immigrant in the United States. That is so powerful for a young kid to see her singing that song, it gets me choked up just thinking about it. It really was made so much more powerful by what she contributed to the songwriting and the performance of the song. I idolize her, and to have been given the opportunity to work with her is amazing. ... I watched the video for it the other day, and it's just so powerful. I'd heard the song, I'd seen her do it live, but that video for me, it was like, "That's it." This is why I do this -- to see a finished product like this that means so much, it really is exactly what I wanted it initially to mean.
You've got to feel immensely proud.
I'm lucky. I'm so lucky to have been a conduit to whatever it was that hit me to help write this thing and to be associated to her is just incredible. I couldn't ask for anything more.
